Syria’s Christians Nearing ‘Extermination’

While many were fixated on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent letter to the American people, another letter from another Russian leader—this one directly addressed to the U.S. president—was missed.

On September 10, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill issued a letter addressed to “His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama, President, United States.” Whether one wishes to interpret this communique as a product of politics or sincerity, it accurately highlights the plight of Syria’s Christians, especially in the broader context of a larger civilizational struggle.

I repost major portions of the letter below, interspersed with my observations for added context:

Your Excellency, Dear Mr. President,

The tragic events in Syria have raised anxiety and caused pain in the Russian Orthodox Church. We receive information about the situation there not from the news reports but from living evidence coming to us from religious figures, ordinary believers and our compatriots living in that country.

This is an important point: the “news reports” evaluated by the Russian church are from “living evidence coming to us from religious figures, ordinary believers and our compatriots living in that country.” The fact is, outside of America’s biased “mainstream media,” the evidence concerning what is going on in Syria—namely, that Islamic militants are committing human rights atrocities, including possibly the chemical attacks in question—is overwhelming. Countless eyewitness testimonies, videos, pictures—all those things that rarely make it to the U.S. MSM—make this abundantly clear.

Ask the average Syrian about the current turmoil engulfing their land—and I have, as have numerous Russian Orthodox representatives in communion with Syria’s ancient Christian community, as noted by Kirill—and few have any illusions as to its nature: an authoritarian, but secular, Assad vs. radical Islamists and jihadis.

Naturally most Syrians choose Assad.

Only in America, and to a lesser extent Western Europe, is the myth of “freedom fighters” trying to “liberate” Syria still being peddled.

Patriarch Kirill:

Syria today has become an arena of the armed conflict. Engaged in it are foreign mercenaries and militants linked with international terrorist centres. The war has become an everyday golgotha for millions of civilians.

To be sure, one of the most obvious indicators that this is no “civil war” in the name of “liberty” is the fact that the majority, up to 95%, of those fighting Assad are not even Syrian, but rather al-Qaeda linked jihadis—from Chechnya to the Philippines—trying to form an Islamic emirate in Syria as they did in the 1980s-90s in Afghanistan. Back then, foreign jihadis like Saudi Osama bin Laden and Egyptian Ayman Zawahiri—again, also supported by the U.S.—traveled to Afghanistan, “liberated” it from the U.S.S.R, and then gave us 9/11 in return a decade later.

Here, for example, is a video of foreign militants in a conquered Syrian town singing praises in honor of Osama bin Laden: “They called me a terrorist and I said ‘that will be my honor,’ this is a divine call …. We defeated America … the Trade [Center] became a bunch of rubble … Greetings from the Taliban and its leader mullah Omar… Victory is ours, winning is ours, and Allah with all his strength is with us, the infidel masses have come together to defeat us but they will not defeat us.”

Patriarch Kirill:

We were deeply alarmed to learn about the plans of the US army to strike the territory of Syria. Undoubtedly, it will bring ever greater sufferings to the Syrian people, first of all, to the civilian population. An external military intervention may result in the radical forces coming to power in Syria who will not be able and will not wish to ensure inter-confessional accord in the Syrian society.

Our special concern is for the fate of the Christian population of Syria, which in that case will come under the threat of total extermination or banishment. It has already happened in the regions of the country seized by militants. An attempt made by the armed groups of the Syrian opposition to seize the town of Ma‘loula whose residents are predominantly Christians has become a new confirmation of our concerns. The militants keep shelling the town in which ancient Christian monasteries are located—the sites of special veneration by the faithful all over the world.

All absolutely true—especially “the threat of total extermination or banishment,” which has been the case wherever and whenever U.S.-backed Islamists come to power:

• Afghanistan: Under U.S. auspices, the supposedly “moderate” Karzai government still upholds the apostasy law—persecuting those who seek to convert to Christianity, making them just as intolerant as the Taliban—and, under U.S. auspices, destroyed the nation’s last Christian church.

• Iraq: After the U.S. “liberated” the nation from Saddam Hussein, the “chemical-weapon-using-tyrant”—sound familiar?—Christians are still being terrorized into extinction, more than half leaving their homeland.

• Libya: Since U.S-backed terrorists came to power—giving American the Benghazi consulate attack on the anniversary of 9/11—the tiny Christian community there has been persecuted, including bombed churches and threatened nuns—things unprecedented under the “tyrant” Gaddafi.

• Syria: Atrocities against Christians by the U.S.-backed jihadis know no bounds—such as the recent gang rape and slaughter of a 15-year-old Christian girl by the U.S.-supported “freedom fighters.” And now in Ma‘loula, Christians are being forced to choose between converting to Islam or dying and other atrocities.

Patriarch Kirill:

The Christian hierarchs of Aleppo, Metropolitans Paul and John Ibrahim, have been held captive by militants since April 22. Nothing is known about their fate despite of the fact that a number of religious figures appealed to the leaders of their states to help to release them.

Indeed, here is yet another example of the nature of the people the U.S. government is supporting. Paul and John Ibrahim were traveling in Syria doing “humanitarian work” when their driver was killed and they were kidnapped. Maybe John McCain can phone his al-Qaeda kidnapping allies and ask them to release them? At any rate, there is no end to the amount of Christians, like Fr. Murad, who have been kidnapped and/or slaughtered by the jihadis in Syria.

Patriarch Kirill:

I am deeply convinced that the countries which belong to the Christian civilization bear a special responsibility for the fate of Christians in the Middle East.

Here the good patriarch speaks a language that may have once resonated with Americans and Europeans—that is, the people from “the countries which belong to the Christian civilization”—but which is increasingly meaningless to those whose “humanitarian concerns” extend to anyone but those unfashionable Christians, and to some American Protestants who are unaware that Christians actually exist outside of the U.S.

As do all eastern churches, however, the Russia Orthodox Church has centuries long experience with Islamic oppression and violence—beginning with the “Tatar yoke” and continuing to the present—and hence, not only sympathizes with the plight of Near East Christians, many of whom are Orthodox, but, as Putin himself recently asserted in a Russian conference dealing with the plight of Christians under Islam, “Russia has tremendous experience in reaching and maintaining inter-confessional peace and accord, and is ready to share it.”

Patriarch Kirill:

The Russian Orthodox Church knows the price of human sufferings and losses since in the 20th century our people survived two devastating world wars which claimed millions of lives and ruined many people’s lives. We also regard as our own pain the pain and losses the American people suffered in the terrible terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.

Alas, some people remember the lessons of history, to their benefit; others forget, to their regret.

*

Don’t miss Jamie Glazov’s video interview with Raymond Ibrahim about Islam’s new war on Christians, below:

The rebels also tried to assassinate the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch by firing on St. Mary’s Cathedral while the clergy were distributing food to the needy. They destroyed both Churches in Maaloula, one Catholic and one Orthodox. There are rumors that they shot Metropolitan John of Aleppo when he refused to renounce Christ and become a Muslim. Why is the US government giving aid to these people. They are allied with Al Qaeda, the people who gave us 9/11. It is insane to support the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria.

RonMar

You say this, “It is insane to support the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria,” and at the same time support the establishment of an Islamic state in Israel taking up 1/4-1/3 of the Holy Land, the established Modern and for centuries-existing Ancient State of Israel.
You never got back to me on my questions and challenges to you on this subject. Obviously you can’t handle the cognitive dissonance that accepting truth, facts, real history and current events causes for you.
Johnny, you really need to take some time off, get some mental health counseling and deal with the conflicts you have going on in your tired, old, much-titled, Ph.D.-addled head.

frjohnmorris

The ancient state of Israel ended in AD 70. It is unjustified for Jews to claim land that their ancestors left almost 2,000 years ago by taking the land of the people whose ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years in the modern era. History is filled with states that have risen and fallen. People whose ancestors lived somewhere 2,000 years ago have no right to claim ownership of the land from the people living there in modern times. Palestinians were the majority in what is now Israel until after they were driven from their lands and homes by the Zionists after 1948. Study the history of the Stern Gang and the Irgun. The Zionists did not flee to Palestine to escape the Nazi persecution, but to establish a specifically Jewish state which means that non-Jews automatically become second class citizens in their own country. Had they moved there and shown proper respect for the rights of the indigenous Palestinian people living there and worked with them to establish a bi-national state the world would have been spared 65 years of turmoil. The Jews suffered horrible atrocities and murder at the hands of the Nazis, but the Palestinians did not do it,. They did not build Auschwitz Birkenau or any other of the death camps or kill millions of Jews, yet they have been made to pay the price for the crimes of Hitler and his supporters.

Texas Patriot

Unfortunately, there is virtually no way for the government of the United States to protect the small (and rapidly disappearing) Christian communities scattered throughout the Muslim world. We can offer them shelter as refugees in the event they are able to escape, but we can’t invade all the countries where they are located in an effort to protect them. What we can do is point to the provisions of the Koran where persecution of Christians and Jews is authorized and mandated, and we can point out very clearly that Islam is not the religion of peace it has been represented to be, but rather is a religion of conquest, and one no less inimical to Human Rights, Individual Freedom, and Constituional Democracy than the totalitarian ideologies of Communism and Nazism that have previously been identified and outlawed as threats to Western Civilization. Hopefully, little by little the truth will sink in, and the great human tragedy now underway can gradually be brought under control, but at this point there is no end in sight.

Abe

The United States can always do something through its friends in Syria and Turkey. President Hussein Obama and Mr McCain have a very strong influence on the Islamists and the FSA in Syria. Turkey, an ally of the United States , is capable of putting pressure on the Al-Qaida brigades in Syria. The question is: does the United States care for Christians ( from human rights perspective ) as it cared for Bosnians and Kosovars ?

defcon 4

I don’t think the current POTUS regime recognizes Christians as being refugees, so they will not be offering them safe haven here.

Texas Patriot

You may be right about that. I’ve heard him express outrage about the use of poison gas in Syria, but not a word about the ongoing genocide and elimination of Christian culture in the middle east.

truthteller

The United States is working for Israel. They want Iran cut off from Hamas and dont care about Christian casualties

defcon 4

LOL, “Palestinian” Christians are routinely persecuted by the muslimes in Gaza and the W. Bank.

gj

What has that got to do with anything?

defcon 4

I don’t think the US is working “for Israel” at all anymore — especially considering the POS POTUS.

Abe

There are two reasons why that is the case:

1) General Islamic intolerance against non-muslims.
2) Christians are the closest group to the West that muslims in Gaza and the W. Bank could find. During the Danish cartoon controversy muslims in Gaza attacked a Christian church. For a very strange reason muslims in the Middle East and countries like Pakistan think that the West is Christian. That is why terrorists in Pakistan murder local Christians ( an easy target ) if they can not find Americans.

gj

Hezballah, not Hamas. But you are right.

Biff Henderson

flim-flam yeller,

A US President that would cajole Netanyahu to issue an apology over the flotilla deaths, demand they stop settlement activity in the West Bank or urge them to release blood-soaked terrorists as a precondition to peace negotiations with the PLO is not working “for” it. These are just a few examples of the recent past as Hamas’ control of Gaza was the result of America’s treachery to its “good friend” in the Middle East.

Hamas “publicly” choosing sides in the Syrian conflict was an act of self-preservation and in no way changes their outlook nor sets in stone that they will not cooperate with Iran’s Islamofascists in the future.

But you knew that didn’t you you lying dirtbag.

hammermartel

If the United States was working for Israel, it would have never forced Israel to release Pali murderers & would have never forced Israel to strike a peace deal with the Pali terrorists in the name of peace deal. Instead of supporting Israel, whom do you want the US to support? Iran, Egypt, Saudi, Qatar? Its not easy for the US to support the Christians without direct involvement. The Mid-East thugs are not Milosevic. Who backed down when Belgrade was bombed & no Orthodox mercenaries from all over the world were fighting in the Balkans as its happening in all the Islamic hell holes. The only way is, Islam should be ridiculed & made fun of & thrown into dustbin in western countries. Every Muslim should feel ashamed to stick to that sick death cult.

Chezwick

This may seem like a trifle considering that Christians are being murdered en mass, not just in Syria but in many parts of the Muslim world, but notice the picture of the Syrian Christian woman in this article….wearing a head-scarf.

When Obama made his infamous speech in Cairo about protecting the rights of Muslim women wearing a head-scarf in the non-Muslim realm, he conspicuously left out the need to protect the rights of non-Muslim women to DO WITHOUT the head scarf in the Muslim realm. The omission was glaring….and was a red-banner example in the lack of reciprocity when it comes to tolerance of the customs of non-Muslims in the Muslim realm.

I was aware of the injustice way back in the 1980s, when I dated a Lebanese Christian and was astonished to learn she used to wear the head-scarf in Lebanon. She explained that it was a matter of personal security. Things have only gotten much, much worse since then. It’s time to hold Muslims accountable on this issue.

defcon 4

I always find myself wondering if the Christians of the Mid-East and N. Africa ever figured that the fate of the Jews (and Bahais, and Druze and Zoroastrians) in the 20th century at the hands of the islam0nazis wouldn’t be theirs in the future.

hammermartel

Exactly you got a point. The Christians of the Mid-East(or the majority) were siding with the Muslims in hating the Jews and Israel, thinking that it will earn some brownie points with the Muslims. But ultimately it didn’t work out. After Saturday comes Sunday. Israel is the only safe place for the Christians in the whole of Mid-East. The Christians didn’t learn their lesson from what the Mid-East Jews’ experienced under the Muslim majority. Atleast the Jews worked hard & developed their ancient homeland & built a modern Jewish commonwealth called Israel. What will the Mid-East Christians do? There are no more Christian nations to help them.

justquitnow

Yeah the jews just willed Israel out of the desert all by themselves. Why don’t those christians (which isn’t a race BTW) do the same thing and create a Christian nation? We don’t need more Christian nations or Muslim nations, we need more secular nations where everybody can believe whatever mythology they want without imposing themselves on others.

defcon 4

Duh, Israel is a secular state. People are free to practice their faiths without persecution, unlike the rest of the islam0fascist Mid-East and N. Africa.

justquitnow

er…I didn’t say it wasn’t.

defcon 4

I see your point, but secular nations obviously tend to be amoral, apathetic and cowardly, because they believe in nothing except the sack of skin in which they reside.

defcon 4

I’ll pray for the Christians being persecuted by muslimes throughout the islamic world, because that’s all that can be done.

John Smith

I always wonder if all these wars about religion are really necessary…

In the middle east, first, they came for the Jews and no one listened. Now, they come for the rest. The Jews have been eliminated from the Muslim countries, now it’s the Christians’ turn, there is no one else. Why is anyone surprised, that God-forsaken religion of Islam is not a religion, it is a license to kill those who don’t believe in the same criminal tenets of that “religion”. If, God forbid, Israel suffers the fate those criminals wish for it, then it will be open season on the rest of the world. Why does anyone think they work very had in eliminating that tiny country of less than 8 million with a fraction of the territory in the area?

Texas Patriot

Israel is the wedge that will crack the crumbling wall of Muhammad’s prophecy, and Muslims know it. If Israel survives, and thrives, and even grows in terms of population and territory, Muhammad’s reputation as a “prophet” will be finished. That is what is at stake in the middle east, and that is why Muslims will fight to the death to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth.

Arf

Correction: After the Christians, they eliminate the Alawites, the Druze, the Samaritans, the Kurds, the Berbers….

Dan Nowotarski

Why aren’t liberals speaking out against President Obama supporting the Muslim Terrorists beating, raping and murdering unarmed, innocent Christian men, women and children in Syria? The liberals not speaking out against President Obama’s support of these savages, leads me to believe their “war on women” and “save the children” campaigns was nothing other than a sham. The liberals attempt to mislead people with half truths and lies. They act as if conservatives want to harm women and children, which is the furthest thing from the truth, then they remain quiet when President Obama’s is supporting Muslim Terrorists who are beating, raping and murdering women and children. Wake up America. God Bless America, Israel, the NRA and all Real Freedom Fighting Patriots.

justquitnow

Now Assad is a angel and not bombing is supporting terrorists. Half of you have no idea what you are outraged about. The selective tears for atrocities in other countries is self serving….very selective…like “can I be mad at Obama about it? Oh I can?…Great then I care about these people.”

thrushour

Typical Liberal progressive arrogant prideful response, but does not surprise…Your idiotoc “Bush lied people died” mantra does not apply to your annointed one and his wars does it? Hypocrites

justquitnow

My mantra? Shouldn’t you wait until I say it before you give it to me? Come to think of it, why do you start by trying to hand me a grab bag of beliefs? Also, what war has Obama pushed for and concocted evidence to get you behind?

Dan Nowotarski

No, don’t put words in my mouth, or try to guess what I’m thinking, you have no idea. President Obama is supporting Muslim Terrorists who are beating, raping and murdering unarmed, innocent Christian men, women and children on a regular basis. I will not support this. In Egypt the people were protesting wanting more Freedoms and the President of the United States offered them America’s support, they gladly accepted America’s support, and who could blame them, getting support from America, who some throughout the world view as the beacon of hope and Freedom. But President Obama sent a Trojan Horse, by supporting Morsi a Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist member. The Egyptian people in time saw through President Obama and Morsi a Muslim Brotherhood member. The people then had another larger protest with support from the Egyptian Military to oust the Obama supported Terrorist Morsi, They were able to rid themselves of Morsi before he implemented his strict version of sharia law, more or less telling President Obama “Thanks for nothing”. Under Mubarak the people were better off than they would have been under the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Morsi. The people of Egypt lost respect and trust of the Obama administration. America won’t again have much influence in Egypt while the current administration is in office. I hope one day the Egyptian people will live under the Liberties and Freedoms that we here in America are fighting to keep. President Obama’s time in office has been a disaster. What do you stand for, anything? Seriously I ask again, why aren’t liberals protesting President Obama’s support of terrorists who are beatings, raping, and murdering unarmed, innocent Christian men, women and children in Syria? Was the “war on women” and “save the children” campaigns a sham? Is not a protest in order to let President Obama know you don’t support his support of terrorists, or any terrorists for that matter, but of terrorists who are committing these evil acts? Maybe as your name implies, you should justquitnow and take some time, do some thinking about what you truly believe in. – God Bless America, Israel, the NRA and all Real Freedom Fighting Patriots.

justquitnow

Derp. No man….he’s not. I’m glad you can find the courage to be against rape and murder, but no. What you’re doing is called being a hysterical ninny. You read FPM, so I won’t ask where it’s coming from.

You think the world really had a sterling view of the United States after the Iraq invasion? Do you really think Obama has soiled all the good will left over from Bush? Derp.

If Obama wanted Morsi in power and was pulling the strings, why did he “allow”(using your line of thinking) the military to oust the Mulsim Brotherhood and then slaughter a bunch of them? I don’t know why “liberals” aren’t doing this or that…I would imagine that your incredibly insincere and intellectually dishonest question has the answer built into it.

Marty

syria reveals the complete moral bankruptcy and evil of islam. Dennis Prager’s recent essay in National Review is very telling: why aren’t muslim imams announcing that muslims who commit atrocities such as the ongoing one in Kenya are going to go to hell. Perhaps, as Prager suggests, the imams don’t believe these sociopaths are going to hell (but to paradise to embrace 72 virgins).

Mach1Duck

Patriarch Kirill, he can’t hear you, he has cigeretts stuffed in his ears.

LindaRivera

I’m scared for the terrorized Christian child kidnapped in Lebanon by Al Qaeda. There is NO ONE to help her! Obama, rabid Jew-hater-Samantha Power and Fascist Left billionaire, George Soros only help Muslim terrorists!

U.S. leaders adore Al-Qaeda and other Muslim terrorists and have financed, armed and trained the barbaric terrorists in their wicked war against innocents.

I understand that most muslims are born into the religion, and nobody ever asks them if they wanted to be a part of it. I understand also that apostosy is very difficult and dangerous. It can cost you your family, your friends, your community and even your life.

Still, as far as the True Believers god. Death by stoning is too good for them.

LindaRivera

It is unmistakable from this and many other articles on the internet that for several years, U.S. and other Western leaders have been working very closely with Al Qaeda and other Muslim terrorist organizations to topple governments and install the most cruel terrorists into power along with strict Islamic sharia law. Together Muslim terrorists and US and other Western leaders make war on Christians and other non-Muslims in these countries.

The Muslim-Western leaders’ war on Christians extends to Britain and Europe where British and European ruling elites have heavily colonized our countries with many millions of Muslims. Immigration jihad. Brave citizens who protest Islamization and sharia law are viciously persecuted by Islam-lovers, ruling elite freedom-haters.

Look at the pics in the above article. It is HORRIFYING. Something is terribly, terribly wrong with America. New York’s finest, New York police march in the parade with Muslims carrying the murderous white and black flags of jihad. It is frightening. New York City officials must make a public announcement very soon as to why they want to ENCOURAGE Muslims to wage jihad against our people.

New York City police officers marching with Muslims carrying the murderous white and black flags of jihad gives the appearance of American leaders’ FULL APPROVAL of jihad against our people. We are betrayed. New York city, state, and federal officials must make a public statement soon.

In the comments section on Bare Naked Islam, in response to the comment I made above, a Londoner in England, said: “Linda, I really think America has lost the battle. It’s bad in London, but NYC??? I’m mortified by these images. They are basically sticking two fingers up to them. What the hell is going on? I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight I’m so annoyed. I never, ever thought that America would allow it to happen on their streets. No more NYC for me that’s for sure.”

Joel Cairo

It should be clear by now that Mr. Obama is at the very least a fellow traveler of those who are exterminating the Christians of the Levant. The evidence is ample from his actions, however, I have also corroborating information from a former associate, Floyd Thrusby, who recently met and untimely demise.

Texas Patriot

At this point it is impossible to imagine that Mr. Obama is unaware of the ongoing Christian genocide and extermination going on in the middle east.

justquitnow

WTF do you want him to do about it. Last week it was article after article about how Obama was a tyrant for wanting to strike. Now that it looks like we won’t, OMG why won’t Obama do something about the slaughter!

Texas Patriot

Instead of striking Assad for kiiling the rebels, perhaps he should think about striking the rebels for killing Christians. But a word of condemnation about the ongoing genocide and exterminatin of Christians throughout the middle east is the least he should do. I am shocked by his silence on the subject, not to mention reports that he is actually giving aid and arms to the rebels. I am unaware of any instance where an American president has been so completely on the wrong side of history.

justquitnow

Do you mean he should condemn the violence or just condemn the violence on Christians specifically?

“not to mention reports that he is giving aid and arms to the rebels actually committing the atrocities”

Maybe you shouldn’t mention them. Maybe you should get the facts first.

LindaRivera

I made a comment over 3 hours ago and it has still NOT been posted on this site. Why not? I hope this DIFFERENT comment will get posted.

The poor Christian woman in the pic is bending over in great physical agony and has been partially scalped. Is she still alive? If she is, God help this poor woman. Is anything known about what happened to her?

LindaRivera

Mr. Ibrahim, could you let me know why the comment I made quite some time ago has not been posted? Thank you.

Father Dacius

At this point in time, with the administration the U.S. has at present, the only viable option may be, I would go so far as to say is, evacuation. Our current president holds deep sympathy for radical Islam and we would not help even if we could. The question becomes evacuate where. Turkey doesn’t want them but might be pressured. Jordan is perhaps an option, but ultimately there is no longer a place in the near east for Christians. Islamic fundamentalism has mad these places a living hell. It is so sad because Syria was one of the most important early sites of Christianity in its earliest days. There are so many places where one can still see where it all began, churches built in the days of the empire, monuments, tombs ,
beautiful frescoes. All will be gone. But get the people out. Refugee camps are horrible but at least it is life. Sad day when a former KGB operative is more willing to peacefully resolve the issue, and our own smart mouthed pot smoking street kid is willingly setting the Christians for a massecre.